This is a HUGE scoop, my fellow Xboxers. Some of you may recall "Logan," one of the first posters and chatters here at Xbox Morrowind Central. He is a gamer, bartender, and advertiser who is working to develop a new television series in New Orleans called "Into the mix" which will center on various forms of male entertainment. One particular focus will be on technology and it's role in the entertainment industry, with a particular emphasis on video and computer games, as well as some applications software.

Well my friends, Logan managed to score a visit to the infamous and renouned Electronic Entertainment Expo, best known as E3. I can personaly vouch for Logan's honesty and credibility, and I assure you that this is legit. I am speaking to you all as a friend and a fellow gamer: I promise you that this guy is the real deal.

The following, are the result of a telephone interview I conducted with "Logan" recently. He was very enthusiastic about laying our fears to rest, but he was also honest and sometimes critical of the game. Suffice to say, what you are about to read is a very honest and telling accessment of the Xbox version of Morrowind, by a normal gamer like you and me.

Ben: So, what can you tell me about the release date?

Logan: Dude, let me tell you straight up. I asked the guy, "so when is this coming out?" and he looked me straight in the eye, and without hesitation, said "Ten days." This was on May 24th. So it falls right on the 4th.

Ben: So that's consistent with the current shipping date atleast. So, did you have any trouble finding the game?

Logan: Dude, I looked for it everywhere, but y'know, people were like "what?" 'cause they didn't want me going to another booth.

Ben: You mean like "I dunno, but look here's Final Fantasy! Look at this!"

Logan: Yeah, exactly. So anyway, my friend finaly managed to find it, and he's all "I'll take you up there tomorrow if you want," and I'm like "Man, I want to get up at 9:00 AM tomorrow and be there!"

Ben: Cool. So what was it like there?

Logan: Well, they were upstairs. So you couldn't find it unless you were looking. And they were in this room, and they had some cookies sitting out, which my friends thought were damn good too by the way.

(laughter).

Ben: So, I guess I should get down to the interview.

Logan: Oh, absolutely man. Just ask me anything you want, I want to quell peoples' fears just as much as you do.

Ben: How was the frame rate?

Logan: Well, let me just say, you wouldn't even notice it. But I have to say this since everyone's going nuts over the frame rate. There is some popping, like brief skipping, but only in the most heavily populated towns. And they told me that this was the only time it happened, and this was as bad as it gets. And it wasn't bad at all to me. It's something you'll see and be like "Ok" y'know, because you're probably gonna be looking for it. But it's not something that detracted from it at all.

Ben: And that's the only time it happens, in towns?

Logan: Only the most populated towns, yeah. Outside of towns you almost never see it. Very rarely. And like, these aren't loading by the way. They're like in Deus Ex for PS2, or like those little pauses in Halo, just more frequent. And it NEVER happens durring combat. Not at all.

Ben: That's pretty damn impressive, considering combat has allot going on.

Logan: Dude. It's incredible.

Ben: How about the water?

Logan: Oh my God, dude. It looks AMAZING. I like wanted to drink it. I'm telling you, this game is incredible. I kept looking at the sky, and I just wanted to swim around and stuff. They were laughing at me. They could tell I wasn't in the bussiness 'cause my friend was all "Dude, go over there man, I want to see some combat," and I'm like "Hold on, I just wanna look at the sky." They were all laughing at me. Todd Howard was there.

Ben: How's the draw distance?

Logan: G-r-e-a-t. You can see a really long way. It looked amazing. You get to a point where you can't get graphics much better or it won't look real anymore. And this game looks real dude.

Ben: How does it look compared to Halo?

Logan: Dude, the textures look more defined than Halo even, to me. You can see each individual blade of grass in some places. You can get right in on rocks and stuff and see how their surfaces curve, and aren't all just flat polygons and stuff. It's really really fluid looking.

Ben: How about the character models?

Logan: The character models, I have to say, was one thing that doesn't do it for me. But we all knew that anyway.

Ben: Like all jointed and stuff?

Logan: Yeah.

Ben: So it really looked great?

Logan: Man, my friend who came with me has the PC version. And he said it looked better on the Xbox than on his PC. Of course everything's a matter of opinion, but it makes me feel better knowing he said that.

Ben: So, did you happen to ask WHY they can't tell us anything?

Logan: Oh, man, they totaly skirted around that whole issue. They were like "Well, y'know, we can't really talk about that, and blah blah." My friend even got in their face y'know, 'cause we're just gamers, we aren't in the bussiness y'know? And he was like y'know, with every other game there's more info, like with Spiderman they were saying consistently, "April 24th" atleast, and they just said "Microsoft just really wants to keep this hush hush," or somethin'. So I dunno. I have a feeling they have some strategy for this game, like Microsoft is really gonna push it or something. Like it's one of their big guns. This game could totally change the fortunes of the Xbox...and Bethesda. One thing he did tell me is that there ARE hooks in the game for plugins, and I think that's a really big deal for them, because he made it a point to tell me this, and right after that he asked me who I was, where I worked, and stuff. That's when I'm like "Uh, thanks for your time man, I gotta jet" (laughter).

Ben: Hmmm. Weird. Do clouds really animate and stuff?

Logan: Oh yeah man, you can see 'em gathering and thickening. You can actualy see when the bad weather is coming.

Ben: So are the controls really like Halo?

Logan: Man, they're EXACTLY like Halo. This game was like MADE for this controller. It's PREFECT.

Ben: What is combat like?

Logan: Well the controls are the same all the time. Strafe, move, look around, y'know. Exactly like Halo. Except I was so frantic and freakin' out trying to win that I really didn't notice what was going on. I got my ass kicked man. (laughter). Oh, the AI distance is pretty long too! I was all the way across a bridge and a guard saw me and came running at me!

Ben: How about the menus and stuff?

Logan: That's really my only complaint, is that the menus were a little f****d up. It's not that they're bad, it's just that it seems like it would be easier on PC than with the controller, because there's a cursor. But that's just my opinion.

Ben: Oh, well that's not a problem for me. I used to use the Dreamcast controller all the time to move cursors around when I was online. (laughter).

Logan: Right, exactly, it's all a matter of opinion. It just seems like it was made for PC, that aspect of it.

Ben: What about the complaint about repetitive dialogue?

Logan: I think what it is, is that people have been spoiled by Everquest. If you're used to playing a game like that, I can see that. People are expecting an online game in a single player game, and it's not gonna happen. So stop thinking that, and stop expecting it to BE like that, and it's incredible.

Ben: What about the HDTV questions?

Logan: Y'know, that's a good question, because that's one thing I wanna mention. They had every game on in the show running on flat plasma screen TVs...EXCEPT for Morrowind. It was running on a regular 32 inch TV set.

Ben: And it still looked that good, even compared to the PC version?

Logan: Exactly!

Ben: Well, my phone card just told me I have one minute left, so thanks allot man.

Logan: Ok, no problem. It was great talking to you, and I can't wait to see it on the site. If you need anything else just PM me, or give me or call, or whatever.

I'd like to thank Logan very much for the interview, and I sincerely hope that this serves to put everyone's mind at ease about the game. Let's hope that shipping date holds!!! :)

P.S. Logan, if you see anything missrepresented or anything I forgot or left out, PM me on the official forums. Thanks again, man!

-Ben (aka bensf81)

-Ben (aka bensf81) BACK